All services in Lac-Mégantic ‘are being well done’: Premier Pauline Marois

The Gazette07.11.2013

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, left, speaks with psychological services volunteer Marie-Josée Chevrier, right, during her visit to the temporary shelter at the Polyvalente Montignac school in the town of Lac-Mégantic, 100 kilometres east of Sherbrooke on Thursday, July 11, 2013. A portion of a train carrying crude oil separated, derailed and exploded in the town of Lac-Mégantic destroying the downtown core and releasing oil into the river and Mégantic lake on Saturday, July 6.Dario Ayala
/ The Gazette

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, left, and Lac-Mégantic Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche, right, greet each other during the Premier’s visit to the Polyvalente Montignac school shelter for displaced residents in the town of Lac-Mégantic, 100 kilometres east of Sherbrooke on Thursday, July 11, 2013. A portion of a train carrying crude oil separated, derailed and exploded in the town of Lac-Mégantic destroying the downtown core and releasing oil into the river and Mégantic lake on Saturday, July 6.Dario Ayala
/ The Gazette

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, left, greets displaced resident Ghyslain Bison, right, outside the Polyvalente Montignac school shelter for displaced residents in the town of Lac-Mégantic, 100 kilometres east of Sherbrooke on Thursday, July 11, 2013. A portion of a train carrying crude oil separated, derailed and exploded in the town of Lac-Mégantic destroying the downtown core and releasing oil into the river and Mégantic lake on Saturday, July 6.Dario Ayala
/ The Gazette

Quebec Premier Pauline Marios holds Lac-Mégantic Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche’s hand as they walk to to a press conference Thursday, July 11, 2013 in a neighbourhood not from from the site of the train derailment Saturday in downtown Lac-Mégantic.John Kenney
/ The Gazette

Quebec Premier Pauline Marios, right, and Lac-Mégantic Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche, centre, greet Françoise Roy on Thursday, July 11, 2013 in a walk through the town, not from from the site of the train derailment Saturday.John Kenney
/ The Gazette

Quebec Premier Pauline Marios said she returned to Lac-Mégantic on Thursday, July 11, 2013, in part to convey “the solidarity, the sympathy, the friendship” from all quarters after a runaway train carrying crude oil demolished much of the core of the town..John Kenney
/ The Gazette

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LAC-MÉGANTIC/MONTREAL — Social services, civil security and municipal services "are being well done" — and carried out on a coordinated basis — in the small Quebec town devastated by last weekend's train disaster, Quebec Premier Pauline Marois told reporters in Lac-Mégantic shortly after noon Thursday.

She was on her second visit to the site following Canada's worst railway disaster since a train plunged into a Quebec river in 1864, killing 99.

Marois said she returned in part to convey "the solidarity, the sympathy, the friendship" from all quarters after a runaway train carrying crude oil demolished much of the core of Lac-Mégantic early Saturday, and to discuss with municipal and business officials the disbursement of $60 million in immediate aid she'd announced Wednesday in Quebec City.

"As for the federal government, already Mr. Harper has been met by my minister of health and social services, Réjean Hébert.

"Stéphane Bergeron has been in contact with Minister Paradis. We have told Ottawa we expect them to participate in the help we are offering in Lac-Mégantic and with the citizens.

"I hope they will answer the call."

The estimated toll of presumed deaths is about 50.

A total of 20 bodies have been recovered.

Prior to arriving in Lac-Mégantic, Marois had faulted the response from Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA), who own both the exploded train and the railroad.

"We have realized there are serious gaps from the railway company from not having been there and not communicating with the public," Marois said.

She had called the attitude of Edward Burkhardt, MMA's chairman, "deplorable" and "unacceptable" after his earlier public statements.

Burkhardt, who arrived in town Wednesday with a police escort and faced jeers from residents, said he had delayed his visit in order to deal with the crisis from his office in Chicago, saying he was better able to communicate from there with insurers and officials in different places.

"I understand the extreme anger," he said. "We owe an abject apology to the people in this town."

Burkhardt, also president and CEO of the railway's parent company, Rail World Inc., was expected to meet Thursday with residents and with the mayor, Colette Roy-Laroche.

The crash has raised questions about the rapidly growing use of rail to transport oil in North America, especially from the booming North Dakota oilfields and Alberta oilsands, far from the sea.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND JAN RAVENSBERGEN OF THE GAZETTE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT

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All services in Lac-Mégantic ‘are being well done’: Premier Pauline Marois

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